I went out and saw Minority Report tonight. I heard a lot of mixed reviews coming out of the theatre, mainly people complaining about the length. Personally, I enjoyed it and thought the movie and a lot of the concepts contained within were well portrayed.
One of things that bothered me initially was subtle product placement that started popping up part way into the movie. And then more and more and more. But you realize that it’s meant to be that way, pervasive and invasive. I came home with the goal of hitting the internet and searching for an interview or press release by Spielberg, explaining what he was doing. I found an article outlining some of his views concerning the future of privacy and George Orwell’s vision of 1984. The movie paints a somewhat bleak view of the future depending what way that you want to look at it. It’s comes down to a paradox between safety and freedom (visible in the tagline Safety IS Freedom) in which everyone wants both but you really have to give up one to have the other. The same way that I’m a somewhat staunch advocate of privacy but keep a public weblog. I don’t mind telling people about myself but don’t want other people using the details of my life as a commodity. What wonderful times we live in.
I digress. The movie is solid, one that I would recommend to other people and will probably have to see again. The cinematography is well done, although iit’s somewhat odd for a dystopian sci-fi movie; muted blues and overexposed whites rather than the typical browns and dark s. Overall, the story/plot wasn’t bad and not rife with problems associated with many films that try to tackle a take on temporal mechanics. It probably ranks up there as the best film I’ve seen in theatres so far this summer. I could probably ramble on about privacy and dystopian sci-fi worlds but I need to get some sleep. There are always more reviews out there; sf gate, ny times, usa today.